TCNJ School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science Attend Research Congress in Dublin

Posted on October 31, 2017

A record number of TCNJ faculty from the School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science presented at Sigma Theta Tau International’s 28th Nursing Research Congress in Dublin, Ireland in July.

The Congress, “Influencing Global Health Through the Advancement of Nursing Scholarship,” held at the Dublin Convention Centre, focused on current trends and issues in the nursing field.

Faculty members Sharon Byrne, Connie Kartoz, Katie Hooven, Yolanda Nelson, and Tracy Perron all represented nursing, while Anne Farrell represented the Department of Health and Exercise Science. They shared their research in the form of oral papers, posters and symposiums.

Byrne presented at a session titled “Culturally Diverse Health Practices,” where she spoke about her research on “Addressing Breast, Cervical, and Colorectal Cancer Screening-Related Health Disparities and Practices in Asian-Indio Women.”

Perron and Farrell presented “Smart Nutrition and Conditioning for Kids (SNACK): An Interprofessional Approach to Nutrition and Physical Education” along with former faculty member Tami Jakubowski. This intervention project used an interprofessional collaborative model in conjunction with the Coordinated School Health program guidelines for the establishment of a diverse multidisciplinary group to improve the health of children in the Trenton area. Kartoz and her colleague Munira Wells at Seton Hall conducted a podium presentation, “Listen to Me: Non-Caregiving Adult Children’s Needs from Healthcare Providers.”

Hooven presented a research poster, “Advancing Population Health in the BSN Program through Interprofessional Simulation: Creating Curriculum to Create Change.” She highlighted the implementation of the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) program at TCNJ. This program attempts to deepen students’ understanding of the realities and myths of poverty in America. Nelson presented “Exploring Faculty-Student Relationships and Their Implications for Persistence in African American Senior Nursing Students.” The poster, through analysis of faculty-student interaction as well as student responses from journals, focus groups, and interviews, summarized the experiences of African American female nursing students.

This event, both rewarding and stimulating for the faculty who attended, has put TCNJ on the global map for the advancement of nursing research.